Sample Statement of Purpose for the PHD in Feminist Studies, Indian Applicant

An Indian woman who could not be more engaged with issues of women’s liberation and human rights, both in India and globally, I hope to earn the PHD in Feminist Studies at the University of XXXX so as to prepare myself for a lifetime of scholarly activity and activism in the struggle for social justice, for women, minorities, and especially the LGBT community. Next year, 2018, I will complete my MA Degree in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of XXXX. For my Master’s Thesis, I am working on queer separatism, focusing on the radical faeries group and their stance on ecological issues. My studies of the connection between women’s issues and environmental issues and their impact on the global south, has left me convinced that the repression of sexual minorities is grounded in a larger ‘crisis of reason’ as suggested by Val Plumwood. Thus, I seek the fullest possible immersion experience at the U of X in the gambit of complicated ways in which gender and sexual orientation are related to other forms of oppression - as well as the destruction of our planetary home.  

I look forward to a lifetime of exploration into the cultural, political and historical foundations of privilege and power. Within time, I hope to become a distinguished expert in the application of transnational perspectives to discussions of human rights and social justice. I also hope to teach in this area in the future, in India, the USA, or both. This past September 29, 2017, the USA joined India in the group of 13 members that voted against a UNHRC resolution to denounce the death penalty for same-sex relations, while no less than 27 member-states in the council voted in favor of the resolution. The fact that both of the countries which I now consider home were part of the distinct minority that voted against standing up for LGBT rights, leaves me with the firm impression that much work remains to be done in both places. My intensive and sustained research on queer history and decolonization as a student here in XXXX will help me to hit the ground running in your program and make valuable contributions to class discussions. It would be a special honor for me as a doctoral student at the U of X to study under Dr. XXXX since I deeply admire her work in the area of indigenous pedagogies and could not be more excited about the prospect of further harnessing her methodology for the illumination of queer and decolonization perspectives.  Her paper "XXXX" suggests that she could be my perfect mentor. As her student, I would be challenged most rigorously to come to grips intellectually with how necropower has and continues to work in history by racializing and sexualizing – the other. I could also not be more excited about the prospect of studying under Dr. XXXX who focuses not only on post-colonial studies but also on the specific context of South Asia. Her paper “XXXX” is of special relevance for debates concerning postcolonial perspectives, in India as in other parts of the former colonial world.

Now, I understand why the majority of women in rural India do not use sanitary pads and why and how the Indian public health structure totally fails women on the bottom rungs of India’s class system. During the last year of my undergraduate studies in Economics in India, my friends and I formed a self-help group in a rural area to help women work towards the achievement of sound, sustainable, economic goals for themselves and their family. I also earned a Master’s Degree in Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, where my interest in and focus on women’s issues very much intensified. I began to learn more about the theoretical aspects of gender, especially with respect to international politics. The highlight of my last year of graduate study in India was co-authoring an academic paper: “XXXX” for my final year project, which I presented in a two-day conclave on the “Impact of Globalization on Women” organized by the National Commission for Women. I next worked as a program coordinator for a non-profit organization in Kerala to gain additional exposure to a variety of social issues impacting women. Some of the projects that I led were communication workshops for economically disadvantaged children and computer classes to enable housewives to sell handicrafts through e-commerce. In 2015, I moved to Chandigarh, where I went to work on behalf of Global Shapers, a non-profit organization specializing in women’s issues and the prevention of child sexual abuse along with treatment programs for the victims. I have contributed significantly to the organization’s efforts toward creating sexual abuse awareness programs in schools across the region.

As a PHD student I plan to further elucidate how our ecological crisis is rooted in the evolution of Western philosophy and ideology. I am already heavily engaged with research on queer ecologies and queer cultures and I presented a paper “XXXX” at the 2^nd International Women’s Rights Assembly in New Delhi, exploring the ways in which debates over decolonization have an impact on the articulation of and struggle for LGBT rights in India. Another project I worked on is “XXXX” which I presented at the Assemblages Conference at UXXX, based on a study of separatist lesbian movement in Oregon. “XXXX” was the title of my contribution at the 42^nd National Rural Development Conference, at Jackson, TN, suggesting  pedagogical practices that can be incorporated into school curriculums so as to encourage sustainable living. I thank you for considering my application to continue my studies at the doctoral level at the University of XXXX.